


Nothing we haven't done before

by Glitchinthematrix999



Category: One Piece, Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Rewrite, Canon-Typical Violence, Crossover, F/M, Female Monkey D. Luffy, I Don't Even Know, I have no idea what I'm doing, Infiltration, Luffy Being Luffy, Luffy being awesome, Monkey D. Luffy Being An Idiot, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Overpowered Straw Hat Pirates, Secret Identity, but mostly near Levi, compared to SNK at least, maybe even ships, people get saved, swearwords everywhere
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-20
Updated: 2020-10-24
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:55:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24287719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Glitchinthematrix999/pseuds/Glitchinthematrix999
Summary: When a man named Grisha approaches the Straw hat pirates and asks for help to save a country from man eating monsters and a corrupt king, it's only natural they accept.Their goal: infiltrate the island, find the enemy shifters and dispose of them.Only heaven knows what they will actually end up doing.Warning: fem!luffy, also, I have no idea what I'm doing
Relationships: Levi & Mugiwara Kaizoku | Strawhat Pirates, Monkey D. Luffy & Everyone
Comments: 6
Kudos: 70





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> All rights to their rightful owners, I don't own One Piece, nor do I own SNK

It was a bright day, perfect for sunbathing, loitering around without doing much, and, in Nami's case, perfect for sitting back in a comfortable chair in the shade of an umbrella, and enjoying the cool cocktail that Sanji made her.

She should have known it was too good to be true. When was it ever peaceful on the board of the Thousand Sunny? The answer was one she knew all too well: never. The first sign should have been the fact that even Luffy was silent, staring out at the sea contemplatively, and it was surprising she was even capable of such a thing.

The second sign should have been the change in the air. They were nearing a summer island, so it didn't surprise Nami to feel a storm coming, but the heaviness in the air promised more than a simple rainfall.

It was only an hour later when it started raining, and the crew was already prepared for it. What the crew wasn't prepared for, however, was Usopp shouting down from the crow's nest.

"Incoming boat at twelve o'clock!" he screamed.

"Marines?" Name shouted back.

"No! Just one guy on a small boat!" Usopp answered, and he sounded incredulous. "It's even too small to take an actual storm!"

Nami frowned, and next to her, Robin did as well. Twelve o'clock was the same direction as the island was. Was the boat here for them? But why would anyone come to greet them, when they were already heading towards said island? It just didn't make any sense whatsoever, especially with the dark clouds looming at the horizon.

She walked over to the front, unbothered by the increasingly frequent raindrops landing in her hair, after all, what kind of navigator would she be if a little rain bothered her? Well, that and she could hear Sanji scrambling after her, and she caught a glimpse of an umbrella in his hand.

Stopping near the figurehead, she could see that Usopp was indeed right: a boat was approaching them fast, barely big enough for the single person standing on top of it. He must have seen her from his boat, because he started waving at them. It appeared he really was heading for them. But what could he possibly want that was so urgent that he couldn't wait until they reached the island?

Luffy, who appeared right beside her a moment later, waved back cheerfully. "What a friendly guy!" she exclaimed with a grin. "I like him already!"

Nami rolled her eyes fondly, "Of course you would." She turned back towards the boat guy, who was apparently, if Luffy's observation haki was to be believed, a man.

"Why would someone come out here before such a storm?" Sanji wondered, holding an umbrella above the two girls with one hand, and shielding his cigarette in his mouth from the rain with another hand.

"That's what I want to know too," Nami shrugged, eyeing the approaching boat suspiciously.

"Well, we'll find out once he gets here!" Luffy exclaimed, bright as always. "Lower the ropes!"

"Yes captain," Zoro murmured in the background, his voice still hoarse from sleep. Nami was surprised he woke up at all, storm or no storm.

"B… b… but what if he is dangerous?" Usopp argued, his voice shaking as he stammered own the last of the few steps of the ladder to the crow's nest. "Maybe he is a bounty hunter! Or a marine admiral!"

"WHAT? A MARINE ADMIRAL?" exclaimed Chopper, and immediately he started running around in panic, until Robin caught him and lifted him up cheerfully.

"I doubt it," she told him placatingly. "Why would an admiral be here?"

"It would be super exciting!" Franky noted without any worry whatsoever.

Luffy's only answer was a cheerful laugh, while Sanji shook his head. "He doesn't feel dangerous."

The man arrived to the Sunny only a few minutes before the storm and climbed the ropes with practiced ease. He looked to be around fourty, with brown hair parted in the middle, and a thin moustache and goatee decorating his thin face. He was wearing big round glasses and had eyes that were smart enough that Nami was instantly wary of him. Luffy, however, had no such concerns. She bounced up to the newcomer without a moment of hesitation, greeting him with the loud exclamation of: "Hi, I'm Luffy, I'm going to be the Pirate King!"

The visitor just smiled, but it was a tense, unhappy smile, and the wary look he gave them all indicated he was all too aware that everyone on the board was eyeing him suspiciously. Everyone besides the captain. He opened his mouth to say something, but in that moment the deafening sound of thunder interrupted them. He looked up, slightly alarmed, and Nami rolled her eyes.

"Ourship can take it," she said, glaring at the visitor pointedly.

He got the message, and looked down, as if he was slightly ashamed for arriving with such a lousy boat. "I was counting on that," he admitted, scratching the back of his head. "My name is Yeager Grisha, and I'm here to ask for your help, Straw Hat Luffy."

Seated inside the kitchen with a nice cup of tea in her hand, Robin eyed the visitor carefully. He had an air of mystery around him, one that she couldn't quite decipher, and it bothered her to no end. He was obviously smart, she could see it in the calculating gazes he sent to everyone, but he was also desperate. Desperate enough to force their hand in talking to him by arriving before a storm in a small boat that would probably sink in no time.

Robin had a bad feeling about the man, and that made her feel positively elated about what he was about to say. And she wasn't the only one, beside her Luffy was a little ball of excitement, waiting on the edge of her seat, her eyes full of curiosity.

"Here," Sanji said, putting down a plate of sandwiches in front of them. "Nothing better than a little snack for serious conversations."

"Thank you," the man said honestly, taking a sandwich in his hand, but not taking a bite, just staring at it as if it was the first time he had ever seen one.

Luffy, who was already munching on her own sandwich, lost her patience in that moment. "So, are you going to tell us what you are here for or not, old-man Yogi?"

"It's Yaeger," he corrected absentmindedly, and shook his head. "And as I said I'm here for your help. It's to save a country from the hands of a dictator." He looked at Luffy pointedly. "I heard you like to do that, fifth emperor of the sea, beater of Crocodile, Wapol, Enel, Doflamingo, and who knows who else."

Immediately, the air changed in the room. Zoro slightly unsheathed his sword, Nami had her Clima Tact in her hand, Chopper changed into Kung Fu point, Usopp had his slingshot aimed at the man's head, and Luffy slightly narrowed her eyes. Robin herself could feel the itch to take up position to summon limbs in a moment's notice, but she ignored it. She was too curious.

"You sure know a lot," Luffy said, her eyes suddenly more calculating than anything, "For a man who we see for the first time today."

"I've been following your story from the beginning," the man admitted. "I've talked to people you've told your stories to, read newspapers, listened to gossips." He sighed tiredly. "From the moment I put two and two together and realized you beat crocodile and saved Alabasta, I realized you may be the one I've been looking for all this time."

"Oh," Luffy said, laughing out loud, and the tension immediately lessened, although Zoro didn't sheath his sword just yet, and Nami didn't put away her Clima Tact. "Alright then."

"Elaborate," Zoro said, his one eye narrowed in suspicion.

"A country… or I suppose now it's my country, it's suffering under horrible king, controlled by pigs who were bought by the World Government. And that's not all. The island is home to thousands of monsters called Titans," Robin could see Usopp and Luffy start to shake at the same time, one from fear and one from excitement, "and the people surrounded themselves by walls to protect themselves and believe that they are the only survivors of humanity and so they have no idea about the outside world." The man sighed again.

Robin could feel her anticipation build. That sounded like a horror novel, and she did love horror novels.

"What are these Titans?" She found herself asking.

"It's complicated," the man said thoughtfully. "and actually quite a long story."

Nami turned towards the window, looking outside on the rainfall. "We have nothing but time," she said calmly.

"Yes, tell us old man! I want to know!" Luffy exclaimed, her eyes full of excitement. "What monsters?"

"Well then," Grisha gripped his uneaten sandwich a little tighter. "What do you know about giant creating experiments?"

The mood in the room changed again. There was rage emanating from Nami and Chopper, and Robin herself felt a little bit of anger rise in her heart at the memory of the children experimented on, locked inside a room of rainbows.

"All too much," Nami snapped, her eyes promising a storm bigger than what was raging outside. "Why?"

"I'm a doctor," the visitor said after a moment. "And ten years ago, I started working with Vegapunk on an experiment with gigantification. We found out about a failed experiment from a hundred years ago, when the World Government attempted the same thing. They failed, spectacularly I might add, but that didn't stop them from trying for years and years, simply dumping the failed experiments on an island that rebelled against them. Those failed experiments are the Titans.

"And in what manner exactly," asked Sanji slowly, "did the experiment fail?"

The man stared at his sandwich. "While people did grow, they lost their mind. The result was half-giants with no humanity or intelligence, with only one goal: to consume humans."

Robin's fascination only grew, but she could sense the horror of the crew grow with it. Usopp uttered something along the lines of "Wait, they eat humans?" while Nami just gasped, and Sanji frowned, Brook laughed darkly and made a joke about shivers running down his spine, and Franky just muttered something like "that's not super."

"And you worked with that, old man?" Luffy asked simply, her eyes unreadable.

"We wanted to see if we could make it better," Grisha admitted. "But without experimenting on humans, of course."

Robin couldn't quite believe that, but she decided to let it go. The man obviously seemed remorseful, and there was nothing to be done about it now. "And could you make it better?" She asked instead.

The man looked at her with infinite sadness and remorse, a look she knew all too well. "We could. By adding devil fruits to the mix, we managed to make a serum that could make humans that could transform into intelligent Titans with added powers at will. Only, the serum wasn't stable. Administering it to someone would shorten their lifespan to about fifteen remaining years."

There was a contemplative silence in the room.

"We haven't heard of any successful giant creating experiments," Zoro said nonchalantly, "so I'm guessing the World Government didn't like it?"

"We never told them," the man admitted. "Vegapunk declared the experiment a failure. I, however, disagreed, and continued my work in secret. In the end I managed to create a stable formula." His voice wavered, and he frowned at the sandwich. "But I knew it was too dangerous, so I never told anyone. And then, there was a break in in my lab."

Chopper and Usopp gasped.

"That's terrible!" Chopper exclaimed, "What happened?"

"Somebody stole the five unstable serum we managed to make, "the man gritted his teeth, "But luckily, they didn't find the stable one. They did, however, find my notes that I managed to make one. And since apparently the Government wouldn't buy the unstable serum, they came after me, with the help of the government. So I ran, hiding where I hoped they wouldn't search for me: on the very island where the Titans live. After all, who in their right mind would hide there?" he sighed. "Unfortunately, they found me five years ago, and decided to take care of two problems at once. Using the unstable formula, they created soldiers, and used them to attack the humans on the island, breaking the wall."

There was a collective gasp from everyone in the room, although Robin had a suspicion that Luffy only gasped because everyone else did too. She, herself, felt horror rise in her. It reminded her all too much of a certain island.

"Half of the island's inhabitants died as a direct consequence, including my wife." There was a grief in his voice, one that people in the room knew all too well. "I administered the stable formula to my son, to protect him and to hide the serum, and ran away again to find help."

"Which is us," Zoro stated.

"wait, hold up," Usopp exclaimed, his unbelieving eyes set on the man. "Did you just say you administered the result of your experiment to your son?"

"Yeah, that's not super!" Franky agreed.

"Yohohoho, that's super cold even to me, and I don't feel cold."

"He lives in a world filled with human eating monsters," the man snapped. "It was the best way to protect him. I couldn't have escaped with my son, especially without leaving his friends behind."

"I understand," Robin said, because she really did. The man did his best to protect the ones he loved. "But what would you have us do?"

"The people on that island have a fighting chance now, with my son on their side," he took a careful bite from the sandwich. "But he isn't safe with the enemy shifters there. I need you to go there, infiltrate the country, find the shifters and dispose of them, and take care of the corrupt king and military as well. This way, the people there have a true chance at freedom."

"That's quite a lot you are asking," Nami said thoughtfully. "What's in it for us?"

The man stayed silent for a moment, before saying, "the island doesn't have much to give, neither do I. I have considerable medical knowledge that I can share with your doctor, or…"

"I want to go, captain," Robin interrupted the man's struggle. "I want to help them."

Luffy looked at her thoughtfully, before understanding flashed in her eyes. "Alright!" she said cheerfully. "Then we are going!"

"Just w…wait a mi…minute! Man eating monsters!" Usopp argued, "Let's think about this."

Luffy shook her head. "I've already decided,"

"i... don't know how to thank you," the man said tearfully. "Thank you so much. I'll owe you forever."

"Nah, I'm doing this cuz Robin wants to. She's my crew, so if she goes, I'm going too," Luffy smirked, and Robin smiled back. Luffy truly was the best captain.

"What's the plan?" she asked, turning towards the visitor. "Surely, you have one?"

"Well... First of all, it would be best if only a select few went," the man said, now eating his sandwich with fervor. "That would make the infiltration easier. Especially with how… colourful the crew is."

Luffy laughed, amd Robin had a sneaking suspicion she had no idea what the man meant. "I'm definitely going!" she exclaimed, "and Robin too!"

"And me," Sanji added with a serious face. "I'm not leaving two women alone on an island full of monsters!"

"And me," Zoro grinned, "I want to see these man-eating monsters."

"Wrll, no way I'm going," Nami shook her head. "I don't want any monsters near me!"

"Then it's decided! We are going to save your country and kick the ass of the king!" Luffy declared.

The man nodded, and for the first time since he appeared, an honest smile graced his face. "Thank you so much."

"Where to, then?" Nami asked, holding her hand out for either an eternal pose, or a vivre card. "We are obviously dropping you off."

The man handed him the latter. "It's a vivre card for my son. There is an added twist, though. The island is in the calm belt."

"It's WHAT?"


	2. Just who is this girl?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not very happy with this chapter, but it's mostly set up, and that's always a pain to write. I haven't reread it, so it probably has grammatical errors and mistypes, but I hope you'll like it anyway.  
> I know there are a lot of differences between this and the SNK canon, and I'm sorry about that, but it'll only get worse from here on out, since I've brought Luffy and co into the SNK world. And where Luffy goes, plans and normalcy gets destroyed.
> 
> Also, sorry about the OC, but he's not staying long.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Shadis said, staring down at the girl in front of him. “ _You_ want to become the new hand to hand combat instructor?”

The girl nodded, her messy black hair falling back as she tilted her head up and gave him a smile so bright that it shouldn’t be allowed to exist in a messed-up world like this. “Yeah!” she told him cheerfully. “But I just told you that.”

“That you did,” he acknowledged begrudgingly, biting back an angry remark, “But do you honestly believe you’d be good at a job like that?”

The girl gave him a weird look, tilting her head to the side, like a curious cat. “I just said that too. Is there something wrong with your ear or something?” Her eyes widened comically. “Wait, are you deaf? Because I don’t know sign language, and I…”

“I’m not deaf,” Shadis snapped, shaking his head angrily. “I just have my doubts about you being fit for the job. And besides, we are not even looking for new instructors right now.”

The girl laughed, her eyes closing in delight. “You are funny. I just told you that I’m here and I’m applying. Why would you need to look?”

It was in that moment that Shadis honestly considered ending his whole military carrier by punching a civilian. He took a deep breath, and instead decided to take a good look at the girl. She was small and thin, wearing a straw hat, a red shirt, a yellow scarf tied around her waist, blue denim shorts, and sandals. Peeking out from under her shirt was a huge, pink scar that almost made Shadis curious how she could have gotten it and survive to tell the tale. Almost.

His biggest concern was that her face looked innocent and honest with big, round brown eyes and a small nose. There was another scar under her left eye, but it didn’t take away from the overall cute effect of her whole appearance. And Shadis highly doubted that someone _cute_ would be good at training military personnel. And that’s not even mentioning the fact that he had no idea why she was here at all. She just marched into his office and claimed she wanted to be the new training instructor.

But there was a reason why Shadis didn’t refuse her application right away, like he should have. There was a strange air around her that he couldn’t quite place. It was a presence alike to Erwin’s, or even Rivaille’s. While she looked perfectly cute and innocent, there was something lurking behind her eyes, something that told Shadis that he should be wary. Wary of that something, hidden behind a façade of cuteness.

“What was your name again?” he asked, contemplating.

“Luffy,” she answered, and for a moment it seemed she wanted to add something else, a surname perhaps, but she stayed silent instead.

“Your whole name,” he said impatiently. She couldn’t expect to join them without giving her name at least, right?

“Luffy,” she repeated, tilting her head to the side again. “Are you sure you aren’t deaf?”

“I’m… quite sure, yes,” Shadis said with a sigh, massaging his temple. He was starting to realize that getting any information out of this girl was entirely futile. “Tell you what. You can spar with our current training instructor, and if he deems you are fit for the job, we will see if we can do something about you becoming a trainee.”

She seemed to consider that for a moment, before shrugging. “I guess that’s good too,” she allowed.

Shadis highly doubted that anyone could be fit for Milford’s ridiculously high standards, but he decided he wanted to see what the girl could do for himself anyway. Best case scenario was that they really did get a new hand-to-hand training instructor, which would be beneficial because while Milford was only bested by Rivaille when it came to throwing punches, he was also unbearably annoying and full of himself.

“Follow me then,” he told her, turning around and heading towards the training yard. Looking at his assistant, he barked, “Get Milford and send him after me!”

“Yes, Sir!” the man saluted, and ran off.

“Why do you want to become a training instructor anyway?” Shadis asked the girl trailing after him as they rounded a corner. “If it’s money or food you are after, you could always just join the military like most people do.”

Looking behind him, he saw the girl making a face. “Nah, I’m not joining anything like that.”

“Why not?” Shadis asked, feeling agitation rise in him again. Why couldn’t she simply answer questions?

“Because I don’t wanna,” she pouted, “I don’t like the military.”

Shadis stopped dead in his tracks and turned on his heels, staring down at the girl in front of him with fury. “Do you think this is a joke?” he asked, using his instructor-voice, the one that always made the trainees piss their pants. “This place is to train people who wish to dedicate their life for humanity! This isn’t a playground for a kid who can’t even answer a fucking question! Who the hell do you think you are?”

Suddenly, the girl’s whole demeanor changed. Gone was the bright, cheerful and innocent kid, and in front of him stood a woman with the presence of a thousand soldiers. It was such a quick and forceful turnaround that Shadis had to fight to keep his scowl on his face, to not reel back in surprise.

“I’m the woman who is going to be the p… the new training instructor here,” she said, pulling her straw hat down so it cast a shadow on her face. “And I know this place isn’t a playground.” She looked up, and her eyes told Shadis she meant business. “I’m serious about this.”

They stood there for another moment, the silence heavy between them, before Shadis started up again. “We will see about you becoming a training instructor,” he said calmly. “For now, we will just see if you can survive Milford.”

They stepped outside to the empty training yard. The sun was close to setting, the sky was already gaining a reddish hue, which painted the yard in orange. There was nobody else outside at this hour, the trainees all already getting ready to rest.

Milford arrived a moment later, with Shadis’ assistant in tow, throwing the door open. He was a big man, with wide shoulder and hard muscles covering his whole body. That and his ugly face gave him an intimidating appearance that often scared trainees when they first saw him.

The leader of the training corps looked to the side to see the girl’s reaction, but she seemed uncaring, barely glancing at the man, instead cleaning her nails in what seemed like boredom.

_Is she this stupid?_ He wondered to himself. _Or is she this confident?_

She seemed to sense him staring, because she looked up and smirked at him gleefully. “Can we start fighting now?”

Shadis fought the urge to grit his teeth. If it wasn’t for his instincts screaming at him, he would have sent the girl away. But then again, if it wasn’t for his instincts, she wouldn’t be here to begin with.

“Is that who I’m supposed to spar with?” Milford scoffed, stepping up to them after a brief salute to Shadis.

“Mind your tone when you talk to me, Milford!” Shadis snapped. He was so lucky he was the best fighting trainer around, or Shadis would have had him kicked out a long time ago.

“Sorry, Sir!” the man said, saluting again, although his eyes showed no sign of shame.

“And yes, this is Luffy,” Shadis said after a moment, looking at the girl. “I want to know if she had any potential to become a training instructor here.”

Said girl was looking at her opponent now, finally acknowledging him. But instead of fear or wariness, she just looked curious, tilting her head to side as she watched him. “Why do you do that with you hand?” she asked, raising her eyebrows. “It looks funny.”

The two men stared at the girl incredulously. “How can you not know about the military salute?” Milford asked, unbelieving.

“She must be from some far away village…” Shadis muttered to himself, once again cursing his instincts for making him keep the girl here.

“Ah, so it’s a salute!” she exclaimed in realization, laughing again. “Sorry I didn’t realize! But can we start already?”

The two men gave each other disbelieving looks, and Milford seemed to agree with Shadis, probably for the first time ever: what the hell was this girl?

“Yes, we can start,” Milford allowed, walking further into the yard. “Come at me, then, and I’ll decide if you’ve got any potential.”

Luffy ignored him, turning towards Shadis. “So all I have to do is beat that gorilla there, right?” she asked nonchalantly.

Shadis had to admit that as incredulous as he himself was, the look that the so-called gorilla gave Luffy in response made him feel a bit gleeful. “…Yes.”

“Good.” She turned back towards the man. “This will be fast.”

Not a moment later Shadis had to wonder if he was dreaming or not. Milford was down, lying on his back with wide, unbelieving eyes staring up at the girl, unable to make a sound in disbelief. Shadis wasn’t even sure himself what had exactly happened. The girl was fast, and most definitely strong as hell. And the way she moved…

“You seriously are the best here?” She asked Milford, and there was a small pout on her face as she stared down at him.

Shadis had no idea what to say to that.

* * *

“So, how did it go?” Old man Yogi questioned as soon as Luffy stepped inside the house. She didn’t need her observation haki to sense how agitated the man was, staring at Luffy expectantly. “Did they hire you? Did you talk to the trainees? Did you find out anything? Have you seen my son?”

Luffy scrunched up her nose. “Stop, you are making my head hurt,” she declared, going around the man so she could enter the apartment properly. It was small, much smaller than what Luffy was used to on her ship, and much less lively, to her disappointment. She shared a room with Robin, while they three men slept in another room, and there was a bathroom, a small kitchen, and a living room with a small dining table and two sofas.

She was starving, but it seemed Sanji wasn’t back yet, so she probably wasn’t allowed anywhere near the fridge now. She contemplated finding some food anyway, but then Yogi was all up in her face again, staring at her expectantly.

“I’m sorry, but I really need to know,” he insisted.

“Yeah, yeah, stop worrying, everything went fine,” she shared, pulling the seastone ring off her finger, and dropping it in her pocket. “Didn’t talk to anyone, though. Just the bald, mad guy.”

The man didn’t exactly seem satisfied with the answer but sighed and nodded anyway. “Did they believe the papers?” He asked.

For a moment, Luffy had no idea what the guy was talking about. Then, suddenly, realization hit her, and her eyes widened. “Oops, I didn’t give them the papers!” she exclaimed, her hands flying to her head. “I just beat up the guy, and when they said they’ll hire me and I should go back tomorrow I just said okay and left!”

To her surprise, however, old man Yogi didn’t get mad at that. Instead, he started laughing, holding his head in his hands. “Are you telling me they hired you without you giving them any credentials? What the hell did you do?”

Luffy frowned, thinking back. “I just beat up the big guy they told me to beat up. Maybe they forgot that they need the papers too?”

The man was still laughing, sitting down into the sofa. “No, I highly doubt that. I think you just left… an impression.”

Scratching the back of her head, Luffy felt honestly lost. Nami would have hit her if she made mess like this, but instead, this guy was just laughing and spewing things that made no sense. “Yeah, well, whatever,” she decided to let the subject drop. “I’m sure it will be fine.” Then with a sigh, she dropped down into a sofa, staring at the fridge wistfully. “I hope Sanji will be back soon, I’m starving. Wearing a seastone ring sucks.”

“I know, I’m sorry,” the man told her, sitting down in the other sofa. “But nobody can know about your powers, or our cover will be blown.”

Luffy made a face. She didn’t understand why it would be such a big deal if people knew she ate a devil fruit, nor did she understand why it was so important that they pretended to be not-pirates, but Robin promised her that it would be more fun this way. So far, she wasn’t sure how it was fun, but trying it out couldn’t hurt.

For now.

Not a moment alter she sensed Zoro and Sanji approaching, and she let out a big sigh. They were still a few blocks away, but just knowing they were close was enough to make Luffy feel a little happier about this whole situation. By the time the two arrived to the apartment, Robin appeared as well.

Luffy jumped up from the sofa and stood in front of the door, waiting impatiently.

“Get out of my way shitty cook!” Zoro snapped from behind the door, before opening it angrily and stepping inside.

“You get out of my way, you uselesss marimo!” Sanji retorted angrily, following behind.

Luffy grinned. “You are finally back!” she cheered, at the same time as old man Yogi asked “How did it go?” from behind her.

“Luffy!” Sanji exclaimed delightfully, his eyes zeroing in on her. “It’s so good it see you!” Then his enthusiasm changed back to indifference as he looked at Yogi. “It went fine. I’m the training corps’ new cook. And this guy is a new cleaning lady.”

“I’m not a fucking cleaning lady!” Zoro snapped angrily. “Also, I hate this plan.”

“And I got into the military police without any problems,” Robin said from behind them, smiling as she entered the apartment. “I’m one of the new assistants.”

“I’m proud of you all!” Luffy declared, grinning. “I think we should celebrate! Sanji, make dinner”

* * *

Eren elbowed Armin in the side. “Who is that?” he questioned, feeling curiosity rise in him as he stared at the girl trailing after Milford.

“I don’t know,” the blond answered. “But she is cute.”

Eren had to agree. With her big, round eyes, petit form, and huge straw hat, she really did look impossibly cute. As if sensing she was being watched, she turned towards them and waved, giving a huge smile. Armin blushed besides him, making Eren chuckle.

“Good morning, you good for nothing, useless trainees!” Milford snapped, silencing the people in the courtyard. “This is Luffy, and she is here to help me train you to be less horrible! So treat her with respect!”

The girl waved again, just as cheerful as before, as the trainees all saluted and shouted ‘yes sir!’.

“Don’t you have to be in the military to train people?” Eren questioned quietly with a frown. “I’ve never seen her before.”

“Maybe she is from the military police or the garrison,” Armin guessed. “Although she isn’t wearing the uniform.”

“Perhaps she is like Milford or captain Rivaille,” Christa guessed beside them, just as silently, “recruited for her talent, skipping training.”

Eren stared at the girl, his frown deepening. “I don’t know guys. Something isn’t here.”

Armin seemed like he wanted to say something, but then Milford’s voice interrupted them. “Now, I’m going to show you a new move, and you are going to spend today’s lesson trying to replicate it. Come here, Luffy.”

The girl, who seemed to be far too occupied by staring at a bug at her feet, snapped her head towards Milford. “What for?” She questioned.

Armin stiffened beside Eren as they both prepared for the inevitable shouting session to follow, but nothing like that happened. Instead Milford just rubbed his temples, exasperated.

“Because I’m going to shove the new move on you,” he answered patiently.

“Oh, okay.” Luffy bounced over. “What do I do?”

Eren watched with fascination as the girl, following instructions, threw a punch in slow motion, only for her arm to be caught, and not a moment later she was thrown over Milford’s shoulder and landed on her back.

The soldiers-to-be all hissed at the same time, but the girl just laughed as she jumped up.

“Did everyone see?” Milford asked, but didn’t wait for an answer. “Let’s show them again, but this time in normal speed. Hit me, Luffy.”

Eren felt bad for the girl. It appeared she was to become the new punching bag of Milford, someone to show his moves on, and it made Eren feel sorry for the poor girl for a whole moment.

But then Luffy threw a punch, and there was a loud crack as it made contact with Milford’s nose. The training instructor staggered back, cursing loudly. Only the trainees stared, wordlessly, unbelieving.

“What just happened?” Armin stammered beside Eren, and although he wanted to answer, Eren found he couldn’t. He had no idea either.

“Oops, sorry,” the girl laughed awkwardly. “I thought you were meant to catch my arm?”

“I would have!” Milford shouted, making Eren wince. “If your fucking punch wasn’t so freaking fast.”

Mikasa snickered, and a small smile found its way on the brown-haired boy’s face as well, as she watched the girl pat the huge training instructor on the shoulder apologetically. “She sure is talented,” he noted.

“Yeah,” Armin agreed, rubbing his own nose absentmindedly.

Milford turned towards them, one hand holding his nose as blood seeped through between his fingers. “Alright, everyone!” he shouted in a weirdly nasal voice, “get into pairs!” Then, he turned towards Eren, making him wince again. “Yeager, you are with Luffy.” He turned back towards the girl. “Luffy, show them the move again on Yeager, while I go and find a doctor.” And with that, he sauntered away, blood dripping down in his wake as he grumbled and cursed.

The trainees stared in silence for another moment, before following instructions, getting into pairs while chatting excitedly, some throwing Eren pitying looks as the boy started off towards their new instructor. Eren himself didn’t much mind. The girl didn’t scare him, and he was curious to find out who she was. But before he could make any progress towards her, Mikasa grabbed his shoulder, making him turn towards her. “What is it?”

“Be careful,” she said, her eyes serious. “She is dangerous.”

Eren frowned, turning back towards Luffy. She didn’t _seem_ dangerous. Sure, she could throw a punch, but she had probably just gotten lucky when she punched Milford. After all, he was the strongest hand-to-hand combatant they knew. “I don’t need you to baby me,” he snapped, pulling his shoulder out of his friend’s hold, and continuing his walk towards Luffy.

The girl grinned at him as he came to a stop in front of her. “Are you ready?” She asked cheerfully.

Eren nodded, getting into position and throwing a punch, the same way he saw Luffy do it slow motion not long ago. She grabbed his arm with surprising strength, and threw him over her shoulder with ease. He felt a bit of pain as he landed, but it went away quickly enough.

He had to admit he was impressed. She was small, but she sure had some serious muscles. He pushed himself up from the ground, ignoring Mikasa’s look as he turned back towards Luffy. “Can I try?” He asked.

“Yeah, that’s kinda the point here,” the girl answered with a shrug, then turned towards the trainees. “Everyone, start practicing!”

Luffy’s first punch was slow, slow enough for Eren to catch, which must have been intentional. He grabbed it the way he saw Luffy do it and threw her over his shoulder. She didn’t seem to mind landing on her back, grinning up at him cheerfully. “Good job!” she exclaimed.

Eren nodded absentmindedly, offering a hand to pull her up. “Who are you?” he found himself asking as he helped her up. He cursed himself instantly, because that was no way to talk to your instructor.

She didn’t seem to take offense in it though. “I’m Luffy,” she answered, staring at him like he was an idiot.

Maybe he really way.

“I know that,” Eren said, shaking his head. “I meant; how did you get so good you could hit Milford?”

Luffy laughed. “I trained a lot,” she answered. “And I fought a lot of really strong people.”

Frowning, Eren looked the girl up and down. She did have at least two visible scars, so it wasn’t impossible she was telling the truth. Maybe she was from the underground? Eren did hear about fighting rings down there.

But something told him that wasn’t the case. The girl was too cheerful for someone like that.

Just who was this Luffy?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading and stuff. Leave a comment?


	3. Instinct

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I don't even know

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I still have no idea what I'm doing, but I'm trying, I swear.  
> I'll definitely try to avoid Sanji's POV from now on, though, because that was a bitch to write.

Walking down on the dimly lit streets, Sanji was once again hit with the feeling of revulsion. Revulsion of this place, filled with so much sadness and pain and sorrow, filled with darkness and despair. The look on those beautiful female faces, never quite carefree or happy. There was a shadow hanging over this entire town, no, maybe this entire island, and it made Sanji feel irritated. Irritated, because he couldn’t help, he couldn’t chase away the haunted look from the eyes of the ladies, couldn’t take away the burden that weighed those beautiful creatures down.

But… even in this dark place, there was one woman who smiled and laughed still, like the atmosphere didn’t feel like it would in a graveyard filled with fresh bodies. Luffy, one of the three most beautiful and cute girls in the world, the captain whom Sanji would follow to the ends of the world and back, was still laughing all the time, despite everything.

“Hey, Luffy,” Sanji said, looking upwards to the cloudless sky. “We should definitely save this island.”

His captain turned towards him, silent for a moment before giving him a wide smile. “Yeah!” She exclaimed with her usual brightness.

“I can’t bear to see,” Sanji continued, putting a cigarette in his mouth, “to see all these ladies suffering so much.”

“Yeah, I know,” she replied, still smiling, then her eyes widened. “Wait, is that a sandwich?”

Sanji followed her eyes, and yes, indeed, there was a sandwich in the hands of a Garrison soldier. It didn’t look like much, but then again, food here rarely ever did. But that didn’t discourage Luffy from staring at the food with huge eyes, almost visibly drooling.

She would have stolen it too, if Sanji hadn’t realized what was going to happen in time and grabbed the edge of her shirt, pulling her back. “When we get home, I’ll make you a better one,” he tried to placate her.

“Really?” She questioned hungrily, her eyes wide as she turned to him, losing interest in the sandwich almost immediately.

“Yeah, of course,” Sanji answered without hesitation. After all, who was he to refuse a lady?

“Great!” She cheered, and they continued their walk towards their home in much lighter spirits.

“You know,” Sanji said after a few minutes, throwing out the remnants of his cigarette, “this place has insane prices for tobacco. If it continues like this, we will need to rob a store or something.”

Maybe he should have been more careful saying something like that loudly, on a street, he realized in hindsight, but living with Luffy for so long made him careless, and it was too late to take it back now, even as he saw the short man in the soldier uniform come to a screeching halt next to them.

“The fuck did you just say?” He asked, and while his voice was calm, there was a biting edge to it.

Stopping in his tracks, Sanji stared down the surprisingly short soldier, sizing him up. He was wearing the sigil of the Survey Corps; so at least he wasn’t Military or Garrison, which was a relief by itself. On the other hand, he did have the eyes of a man you usually don’t want to mess with. It was easy to tell that those gray eyes have seen some shit. Sanji didn’t doubt he could take the guy,but didn’t want to risk compromising their situation. Marimo would never let him live it down. “I was just joking,” he answered simply, keeping eye contact with the man. “Sorry, didn’t mean to offend you.”

“Offend me?” The soldier questioned calmly, his eyes narrowing. “You didn’t _offend_ me. You did, however, say you want to fucking rob a…”

He was interrupted when Luffy clapped him on the shoulder with a cheerful smile, “Chill out, Sanji told you it was just a joke! It’s not like he has stolen your meat or anything!”

For a moment, Sanji was actually relieved, because it seemed that was all Luffy planned to say. Not great, yes, but could have been worse.

But then, she continued. “Wow, did you know you are really short?”

And of course, she had to say that. Sanji cursed inwardly as the expression of the soldier went from calm to disbelieving, then back to calm, if somewhat incredulous.

“Give me one fucking reason why I shouldn’t arrest you right now,” he said, his gray eyes snapping between them, “For planning an assault and insulting an officer.”

Sanji cursed inwardly, because apparently, the shorty here wasn’t just some stupid little soldier, but he happened to be an officer too. And of course he did. It wouldn’t be Luffy if she didn’t manage to insult an officer on their fourth day in this fucking town. They barely even arrived, for fuck’s sake.

But then again, Sanji reflected, they should be happy Luffy managed to stay out of trouble for this long; it was an honestly astonishing fact by itself.

Speaking of which, he should probably do something before things went from bad to worse.

“With what proof,” he questioned, eyeing Luffy to see if she was planning anything. “All I did was make a joke. We weren’t actually planning to rob any store. And no offense, but you really are short.”

Alright, perhaps he shouldn’t have said that. Maybe Luffy was rubbing off on him?

“Right?!” Luffy laughed. “And we absolutely weren’t planning to rob the store. Right?”

The way she looked at Sanji them told him that Luffy was actually unsure about that fact, and Sanji suspected if he picked up on that, the officer did too. He cursed inwardly.

“No, we weren’t,” he assured both of them.

The soldier’s eyes narrowed, “And what _were_ you planning to do then?”

 _Oh no,_ Sanji thought gravely, _don’t ask that._

“To kick the king’s ass!” Luffy answered immediately, without thinking, a bright grin overtaking her face. It was a grin that could light up rooms and melt the hearts of pirates, bandits, and marines alike, but Sanji had a feeling that this particular officer wouldn’t be as receptive to it as people usually were.

He wasn’t wrong.

This soldier seemed unimpressed, his eyes cold and calculating. “Are you fucking with me?” he questioned, slightly changing his stance to a less tense one, “or are you playing at something? Because saying that to soldier is basically fucking begging to be arrested, possibly even...” He was midsentence when his eyes widened suddenly with disbelief, “what the fuck brat, I’m talking to you!”

Sanji glanced to his side. He was amused, if somewhat horrified, but not even a tiny bit surprised to see Luffy with her back to the soldier, waving cheerfully at somebody. Turning around as well, Sanji’s heart leapt to see who that somebody was.

“My dearest Robin!” He exclaimed, forgetting about the soldier entirely as he threw his arms out, “I’ve missed you so much!”

“Oh my, what is happening here?” she asked cheerfully, hiding a smile behind her hand as she approached.

“That’s it, I’m fucking arresting you!” the man behind them said.

Well, that got Sanji’s attention. Belatedly, he realized that maybe ignoring the officer wasn’t the best idea of all, but then again, he had to greet Robin! Who could blame him for that? Surely, the officer saw how beautiful Robin was, too?

If he did, Sanji would have to kick his ass, though.

He turned around, annoyed.

“Captain Rivaille!” a distinctively female voice shouted, and not a moment later a woman Sanji had never seen before ran up to them. She had short, strawberry red hair and huge eyes, making her look innocent and adorable – not as much as Luffy of course, but it still made Sanji want to melt.

“What a beautiful girl!” he exclaimed, and he wished he had a flower right now, so he could offer it up. Instead, he just put his hand on his heart, an exclaimed, “it lights up my heart to see such beauty in such a dark place!”

The girl blushed, coming to a stop next to the officer. “I’m sorry, but who are you?” she questioned, eyes narrowing as she analyzed the situation. “Captain, is everything alright?”

Luffy laughed brightly before the officer could say anything, earning another annoyed glance from the man. “Everything’s fine!” she assured the woman, “We were just talking. But we need to go now, Sanji promised to make me dinner and I’m hungry!” She tired to pat the guy on the shoulder, but he caught her wrist, glaring at her.

“As I said, you are under arrest,” he said slowly, his eyes narrowing.

Sanji felt rage rise in him, because how dare that man touch Luffy. Just the idea of a man putting their filthy hands on his dearest captain was unimaginable. She was too pure, too beautiful to be tarnished by something unworthy like that.

He was preparing for a fight when the air around Luffy changed in an all too familiar way; she had finally recognized and acknowledged the threat. The smile disappeared from her face, her straw-hat casting a shadow over her eyes. “You want to fight?”

The tension in the air was palpable, enough to make the beautiful strawberry-blonde take a step back, whilst Robin chuckled slightly next to Sanji, a sound that always made his heart beat faster.

The soldier, however, wasn’t intimidated in the slightest, hardly even phased by the change. “Depends,” he answered with a dispassionate face as he stared into Luffy’s eyes.

The two stared at each other for a long moment, and the air seemed to crack under the pressure of their locked gazes.

Then, at the same time, they turned away from one another, the soldier letting Luffy go as they started walking in opposite directions, as if nothing had happened.

“Captain?” The strawberry-blonde girl ran after the man, leaving Sanji alone with Robin.

“Well, that was quite dramatic,” Robin noted, smiling.

“I expected nothing less from Luffy,” Sanji noted, lighting another cigarette. “At least she didn’t get into a fight this time.”

She hummed, her eyes twinkling. “I wonder what that was about, though.”

* * *

“Captain!” Petra shouted, finally catching up with Rivaille. For someone so short, he sure could walk fast. Not that Petra would ever tell that to him. “What just happened? Who were they?”

The man barely glanced at her. “I don’t know who they were,” he answered, his face unreadable.

“But what happened?”

“I wanted to arrest them, but then I decided against it.”

“Yes, but why?” She continued her questioning, desperate to understand. When she got there, Rivaille was… well, he was pretty much furious, so much that it showed, and Petra could count on one hand, no, on one finger, how many times that happened before. So, the fact that he just turned around and walked away… she must have missed something big.

Rivaille glanced at her, but his eyes showed no feelings. “Do you remember how you got into my squad?”

“Of course,” Petra answered immediately, frowning, “I stopped Gunther from attacking that titan.”

“Because you recognized it was dangerous,” Rivaille nodded. “And then it turned out to be a fucking abnormal. How did you know the titan that was barely five meters tall would be so dangerous?”

She thought back, recalling the moment she screamed at Gunther to stop, to get back, and she remembered what triggered it as clearly as it had been yesterday. Her eyes met the titan’s eyes, and in that moment, she knew. She just knew that they were no match for it, and the titan knew it too.

“Instinct,” she answered shortly. “I looked into its eyes and… I just knew.”

“Exactly,” Rivaille agreed calmly. “Most of the time, your instincts count just as much as your wit. If you don’t learn how to rely on them, you’ll die a fucking ugly death pretty quickly.” He looked away, and though his face was unreadable, his tense posture said a lot.

It took another moment for the realization to dawn on Petra, and when it did, she almost fell on her face like a clumsy cadet; if it wasn’t for Rivaille catching her effortlessly, she would have. “You can’t mean…” she blurted, her eyes wide, as he pulled her back to her feet, “That you felt like she was dangerous?”

She thought back to the girl, small, thin, with a cute face and innocent wide eyes. She just couldn’t imagine her to be dangerous, and especially not dangerous enough to beat…

She looked at Rivaille again, his face, though, was undecipherable as ever. There was a thoughtful look in his eyes, though, one that made Petra want to turn back around and take another look at the girl.

“She is a fucking simpleton,” he answered after a moment. “But also, very dangerous. I’m not risking a fight with her on a street filled with civilians, especially not without my gear. We’ll report her to Erwin, and then Shitty Eyebrows can decide what to do with her.”

“Yes captain!” Petra exclaimed almost immediately, mostly out of instinct than anything else, still desperately trying to wrap her head around the fact that the tiny girl they had just met could actually be so dangerous.

She just hoped she wouldn’t be the one sent after the girl when they told the commander about her.

* * *

The next morning, Rivaille woke up earlier than usual. He wasn’t a heavy sleeper, so being up early wasn’t out of the ordinary, but this was extreme even for him.

He sighed and looked around the bare room he had been assigned when he arrived here yesterday. It was annoyingly dirty, even after he had spent the majority of yesterday’s evening cleaning up the place after he arrived back to the base.

His mind wondered back to the girl he met yesterday, and he frowned. A part of him itched to see her again, but this time with his gear on, and away from civilians. Maybe if he asked Erwin to assign him to bring her in, he would comply.

He climbed out of bed and pulled on his uniform, not really looking forward to the day ahead of him. He still couldn’t believe that out of all the people Erwin sent _him_ to sweet talk some shithead into joining the survey corps as a hand-to-hand combat trainer.

Adjusting his uniform one last time, he left the building, looking up on the dark gray sky thoughtfully. The air was heavy, and there were dark clouds in the distance; he had no doubt in a few hours it would rain. And wouldn’t that be a bitch, making the whole place muddy and disgusting. His nose scrunched up in disgust.

“Ah, Rivaille!” an all too familiar voice greeted him.

“Commander Shadis,” he nodded at the man. “You look like crap.” He added, almost as an afterthought, because the man really did. There were dark circles under his eyes, and his wrinkles have gotten much worse since Rivaille had last seen him. While he still held himself like a man of rank, Shadis was quite obviously far from his peak condition.

The commander of the training corps didn’t seem taken aback by the blunt statement. “And you are charming as ever,” he answered, rolling his eyes. “I’m still glad that Erwin took my advice and sent you.”

Rivaille frowned, looking at the man from the corners of his eyes. “So, it was your idea?” He asked, unimpressed. “Then tell me, why the fuck do we even need a new hand-to-hand combat trainer?”

“You of all people should know that hand-to-hand training trains much more than just how to kick someone else.”

“It teaches discipline, critical thinking, and all that shit, I know, spare me the bullshit and answer my question.”

Shadis scoffed. “You’ll see once you meet her.”

Rivaille doubted that, but it was too fucking early to fight with the commander of the training corps on this. He would see the new trainer, maybe even try to convince her to work at the survey corps instead of the training corps, and then finally return to his clean room back at the HQ. he couldn’t wait to leave this shoddy place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tried to make everyone stay in character, but I don't know how much I'm succeeding in with that.   
> Do tell me your thoughts, please, I can't improve if I don't know what I'm doing wrong.


	4. Rivaille wants a vacation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think a few explanations are in order at this point.  
> Why is Luffy a girl? Well, I've got a lot of reasons, but mostly it's just me being an absolute fan of genderbenders, and wanting to write some female Luffy. Also I really enjoy writing underestimated characters who then turn out to be super badass and everyone is like 'what?'. And Luffy being a girl makes it much easier to underestimate her.  
> And, for the question of why I'm using Rivaille instead of Levi, well, for personal reasons. 'Levi' is an actual name in my country, and it's pronounced a lot differently. Therefore, whenever I write Levi, the name changes in my head and it's hard to associate it to the character or to pronounce it right, which annoys me to hell and back.  
> Here's hoping you'll enjoy this chapter. It's really hard, trying to nail the characters and bending the plot to go the way I want. (I'm failing spectacularly at the second part, since nothing happens as I thought it would.) But anyway, please tell me if you think the characters are OOC, and advise me how to correct that if you can.

Rivaille bit back a curse as he watched the trainees pile into the training ground. None of them had really noticed him yet. That was hardly their fault, seeing as he was hidden in the shadows, intentionally not making his presence known. It was something he had perfected while he was still in the Underground, a technique that he often used to scare the shit out of new recruits and veterans alike.

The new brats looked surprisingly disorderly for people who would be graduating in a month or two, but then again, Rivaille doubted many of them would come to the Survey corps anyway. And even if they did, they would have order beaten or scared into them soon enough, so it didn’t really matter. No, it wasn’t the state of the brats that made him curse internally, but the girl who walked beside that absolute shithead of Milford.

_Please tell me that girl isn’t the new training instructor._

And then, as if she heard his thoughts, she turned, straight towards him. For a moment, she seemed to squint, then an overly bright grin lit up her face. For a moment, he hoped that she just noticed a bird overhead or something, but all the hope flew out the window when she opened her mouth.

“Oh, it’s you again, shorty!”

_Oh fuck no._

Rivaille had half a mind to just turn around and walk away, right into the stables to get his fucking horse and get out of there as fast as he could.

He didn’t, in the end, although it was a close call. Instead, he just stared at the straw hatted girl as she waved at him cheerfully, her eyes twinkling under the shade of her hat.

And obviously, with all the commotion she caused, all the trainees turned to look at him as well, because of course they fucking had to. Then, as they got over their shock, they started whispering among themselves, their eyes searching, curious.

He bit back a swear, realizing that there wasn’t much point in staying in hiding at this point, as him being there was hardly a secret anymore. Damn that girl and her weirdly good perception. He stepped closer to the training grounds, watching as that stupid ass Milford frowned at him, before recognition lit up his features.

“Captain Rivaille,” he bit out, saluting, although his eyes were screaming bloody murder. “What can I help you with?” The he turned towards the cadets-to-be. “What the fuck are you doing, you asswipes? Salute to your superior officer!”

Immediately, all the brats snapped to attention, their hands flying into position, left behind their backs and right in front of their hearts. Rivaille bit back a snort as he approached, circling around the trainees and coming to a halt in front of the straw hatted girl. She was wearing the same thing she had been yesterday, the red shirt, yellow scarf and blue pants, with those absolutely ridiculous sandals. She looked like she was on a fucking vacation, instead of doing her job as an instructor for soldiers.

“What I’m here for is my fucking business,” he answered simply, looking into the girl’s eyes.

He did his best to give her his best glower, the one that made cadets shit their pants, Hange step back, and even got Erwin reconsider his words. The girl however, just widened her grin, her gaze unwavering as she stared straight into his eyes.

She was either way too fucking dumb or too arrogant for her own good.

A sudden, weird urge overcame him to smile back, which, honestly, was so shocking to him that he started scowling instead. People like this were always the scariest. The ones whose smiles could light up rooms and brighten up other people alike.

_Just like Isabell did._

_No._

Tearing his eyes away he turned towards Milford.

“Then how can I help you?” The man asked with fake politeness, his eyes burning with the same dislike that Rivaille himself felt when he looked at the man in front of him.

“For now, I’m only here to observe the trainees,” he answered simply, “So don’t mind me.”

Milford squinted his eyes at him, obviously suspicious, but didn’t say anything. Instead, he turned towards the trainees. “You heard the Captain. Although what he wishes to observe on a bunch of absolute losers like you, I have no clue. But if he has nothing better to do with his time, then he’s welcome to waste it on you all. Now get to it!”

The brats were still staring at him, Rivaille noted, their eyes full awe. It didn’t bother him as much as it used to, but he could never quite grow used to it. He rolled his eyes at them. “What are you waiting for, you shitty brats?”

As if snapping out of some spell, the trainees immediately started moving, pairing up and starting to spar with practiced ease, but still giving him slide glances that they probably he thought he wouldn’t notice.

Rivaille turned back towards the girl, who seemed to have lost her interest in him in the solid two minutes that passed since he last looked at her. She was doing some stretches, eyes trained on the recruits.

“Oi, brat!” he said with a frown, trying to get her attention back to himself. Her eyes snapped to him, and she smirked, not even faltering in her exercise at the sight of his scowl.

“Yeah? You are here to fight me, right?” she questioned, tilting her head to the side in an inquiring, curious way.

_Like a damn cat._

“That’s quite the assumption you have there,” he answered, fighting back a smirk. He was Rivaille. He did not fucking smirk. “Maybe I’m just here to observe the trainees. I am a Survey Corps captain, after all.”

“Nah. I think you are here for me.”

Rivaille saw from the corner of his eyes that some of the trainees stuttered, giving the two of them inquiring looks of their own. He could already hear the gossip starting.

_This is so going to be a headache later._

_For Shitty Eyebrows, that is._

“Hm,” he answered, careful to keep his face blank. “Well, aren’t you a presumptuous brat. But you aren’t wrong.”

“I rarely am.”

Rivaille let the edges of his mouth quirk up just the tiniest bit. He was under orders to check out whether the new training instructor that Shadis told them about was half as good as Shadis claimed her to be, and if so, to try and snatch her up before the MP got their hands on another, potentially very dangerous person.

Honestly, he thought the whole thing was just stupid. The Corps didn’t need new hand to hand training instructors, nor did it need to swipe it off from the hands of the Training Corps. It made much more sense for the brats here to learn from the best, after all, this was where they got the basics beaten into them, quite literally in this case.

But looking into the eyes of the girl, back on the streets and now as well, it left all his instincts going haywire. And he liked to think his instincts were good, or at least good enough to survive growing up in the Underworld and then all the expeditions in the Survey Corps. So, if they were screaming, then there had to be a good fucking reason for that.

And even though he was no fan of Shadis, didn’t like the fucker at all actually, he could understand him now. There was really no way to describe it, no way to understand it - not that Rivaille tried that hard – he just… knew. Knew that this shitty brat right in front of him was one of the most dangerous people he’d ever met. Call it a feeling if you will, but he just knew.

And yet, his blood burned at the thought of the challenge in front of him. He supposed it wouldn’t be so bad, to actually test the girl. To see if she really was something – or just the manifestation of the paranoia that’s been sneaking up on him after all these years of servitude in the living hell that was the Survey Corps.

“And tell me, why would I spare my very expensive time on fighting with a shitty brat such as yourself?” he asked, his eyes leaving hers to sweep over the training newbies.

“Shouldn’t you be the one to know that?” the girl questioned, smirking. “You are the one who came here for me, Shortie.”

The trainees stopped at all at once, seemingly holding their breath. Milford’s face reddened, his eyes bulging out in anger – and yet he did not speak.

The whole training ground tensed in anticipation, waiting for Rivaille’s reaction.

The captain looked over to the straw hatted girl and lifted an eyebrow. He was hardly surprised at this point. He already knew she had no regard for authority, nor any brains to fear repercussions. He had met people like this before, and they either made it very far, or, more often than not, didn’t last all that long.

But, while his body itched for the fight the girl’s eyes promised him, he was smarter than that. People like this, give them a crumble and soon enough they will want a whole bread.

“Sorry brat, but not today,” he said, ignoring the inquiring look she gave him. “I’m not just gonna fight some entitled shitty brat. But you are right that I’m indeed here to judge whether you have enough talent to balance out the fact that you’ve got less brains than my horse.”

Some of the trainees snorted at that, but the girl didn’t seem offended. Actually, she didn’t even seem to realize she had been insulted.

“But if you’re not gonna fight me, then how will you know?” she asked, scrunching up her whole face, likely due to the effort of trying to figure out the answer.

Rivaille suppressed a tired sigh.

_Forget my horse, she’s got less brains than my saddle._

“I said _I’m_ not going to fight you,” he answered, careful to keep his face emotionless despite the intense inner desire he felt to bang his head against the nearest wall, tree or fence. Basically anything would do at this point. “I never said nobody else won’t either.

The girl’s eyes widened, hitting her right fists into her left hand’s upturned palm, as if she was just had the biggest fucking realization. “Ah, I see! You are one of those smart people, aren’t you?”

_Shitty Eyebrows better buy me some good fucking tea as payment,_ Rivaille thought tiredly. _With biscuits._

He turned towards Milford, who seemed to be fighting back a smile. Rivaille’s hand itched to wipe it off from his annoying face, but he couldn’t fault the guy. He was probably happy that he wasn’t the one this time who had to stand that absolute moron of a girl. “Who are the two best hand-to-hand combatants in this batch?” He asked instead.

Milford’s eyes widened the slightest bit, as he seemed to grasp the situation. “Leonhart, Yeager, get your asses out here!”

“Yes, sir!” Came two answers at the same time, and two people left the crowd to approach their instructors. One of them was a short girl with bright blue eyes and blonde hair, her face calm and emotionless, as if she wasn’t the slightest bit surprised or intrigued by how things were playing out. The other trainee, however, was different. His blue-green eyes were expressive, showing every bit of surprise and nervousness he seemed to be feeling at the request. He had somewhat tanned skin and brown hair that implied he must have been either unfamiliar with hairbrushes or had a strong hate for them.

“Are we to fight Instructor Luffy, sir?” the boy asked, his eyes flitting between Milford and Rivaille.

“Yes.” The captain answered. “What are your names, cadets?”

“Eren Yeager.”

“Annie Leonhart.”

“Hm. And you’ve got a problem with fighting the girl?”

The two looked at each other, before looking back at him, the same, iron determination shining in their eyes.

“No, sir!” They answered at the same time.

_Huh. Not bad._

Milford snorted, “Those two won’t have a fucking chance.”

Rivaille looked over to the instructor, giving him the most disdained look he was capable of.

“I don’t remember asking for your opinion. And it will be three against one, because you are joining.” He pointed at Milford, internally grinning at the way the man went pale. Then he glanced over to Luffy, who seemed unsurprised at the news. “If you are as good as people seem to claim you are, there shouldn’t be a problem with that.”

“Nah, it’s good,” she answered with an uncaring shrug. “But if I win, you are fighting me!”

Refusal was at the tip of his tongue, but he thought better of it. “If you win, I’ll consider fighting you sometime.”

The girl nodded, seemingly satisfied with the answer, before turning towards her opponents.

“These two will only slow me down,” Milford grumbled, mostly to himself, looking over the two trainees. “I don’t need two shithead brats in the fight. And Luffy, how many times do I have to fucking tell you not to wear a fucking ring?”

Rivaille frowned, looking over to the girl. Indeed, on her right hand, right on her middle finger, there was a large, grey ring, seemingly made from some kind of steel. It didn’t look like a wedding band, but it must have been important if the girl kept wearing it even though she was being told not to.

Well, or she was a complete moron who didn’t even listen to her more-or-less superiors. Rivaille had a feeling he knew which one of those options was the right one.

“But I can’t take it off,” the girl whined, her face scrunching up into a pout. “Nami told old man Yogi not to give me dinner if I do.”

_I want a raise,_ Rivaille thought belatedly. “It’s against regulations and it’s fucking dangerous, so you either take it off, or…”

He let the threat hang in the air, because he had a feeling it didn’t really matter what he’d say. The brat wouldn’t listen anyway.

He was, of course, right, as he found out a moment later.

“How about this?” I’m not taking it off, but I’ll not use the hand. It’s not dangerous that way, right?” She smirked, putting the hand behind her back.

_I want a raise, and a weekly supply of tea._

“You want to face off against the three of us,” Milford said slowly, “with one hand?”

The girl scowled, seemingly deep in thought. Rivaille cold practically see the cogs turning in her head, and he was almost worried by the way her whole face went red from the effort. “You are right,” she said finally, her eyes brightening. “I’m not gonna use any hands!” She put the other hand behind her back as well. “That way, it’s almost fair!”

_Fuck this. I want a weeklong vacation as well._

“I don’t give a fuck if you fight only with your ass, just get it started already, I don’t have all day!” he snapped.

“Yes, sir!” the two cadets echoed, and Rivaille couldn’t help but think how refreshing that was. People listening to him, not questioning him, nor asking stupid questions at every turn. He really, really missed his squad.

And he had ben barely gone a day.

“Are you sure about this, Instructor Luffy?” the Yeager boy asked, eyes wide.

The girl just grinned wider and nodded, pushing the straw hat off her head so it was kept in place by the string around her neck, before placing her hand back behind her back.

The three moved, surrounding the girl.

That was when her eyes seemed to change, becoming calculating and thoughtful as she sized up her opponents.

_Huh. Maybe she isn’t simple after all,_ Rivaille thought, eyes narrowing.

There was a beat of complete stillness, as if the whole universe held its breath. Then, the three moved at once, in perfect harmony. Milford, as big of an asswipe as he was, he was an exceptional fighter, and the cadets weren’t half-bad either. The Leonhart girl was fast, precise, her moves calculated. She knew how to fight, and she did it well. Yeager, however, seemed to be relying on intuition more, but he seemed to have a good hang on the moves as well. Both of them showed great promise.

Too bad it didn’t seem to be worth shit in this fight.

The girl dodged every attack with unnatural speed, her moves fluent and graceful, not even batting an eyes as she moved between the hits and kicks and grapples like she knew already what everyone else was thinking, as if she could predict each move with perfect accuracy without even fully looking at her opponents.

It was like a weird – and yet amazingly choreographed – dance, that the four of them did, with the straw hatted girl leading and the other three following. It was half breath taking, half terrifying.

Rivaille heard the cadets gasp and whisper between each other, and he was half tempted to join them because shit, with moves like that, the that girl needed to be taught the 3DMG and forced to join the Corps.

_Just so she can die like the rest of them. Her talent, her light, gone._

_No._

Rivaille could pinpoint the exact moment the girl decided to fight back instead of dodging. Her whole stance changed, eyes hardening and smirk widening. And then, instead of stepping out of the way from an attack from Milford, she leaned back, before giving a loud ‘Heh’ and jumping up, headbutting the man with enough force to make him stagger backwards, disoriented.

Rivaille suppressed a wince.

The girl didn’t hesitate to kick the legs from under Milford, seemingly not noticing as Leonhart used the moment of opening to direct a perfectly executed roundhouse kick at the back of her head.

The straw hatted girl shouldn’t have seen that attack. Couldn’t have seen that attack. The blonde was quick, precise, and made no noise, and yet, as if she could feel it in the air, the dark haired girl dodged by jumping backwards, giving the other a bright grin before kicking her legs out from under her so Leonhart fell forward, then lifting her right leg with impossible speed and kicking the blonde in the back so she couldn’t regain her balance before landing in the dirt face first.

Then, as if it was the most natural thing the straw hatted girl ever did, she jumped backwards in a perfect summersault, flying over Yeager. She landed behind him without much trouble and headbutted the boy as well as soon as he turned around.

“That’s enough,” Rivaille bit out. The difference between the skill levels was just too wide. “I think we can all agree that the idiot brat wins. Luffy, was it?”

“Yeah!” she said, still grinning. “So, will you fight me now?”

He considered his options. The girl was good, better than any fighter he had ever seen, including the Underground. He didn’t like his chances without his gear, but he still felt compelled to fight. Maybe it was the challenge in the girl’s eyes, maybe because he didn’t like breaking his promises, but he couldn’t resist nodding.

“Oh my god,” he heard someone whisper-yell from the audience. “Humanity’s strongest fighting Luffy? This should be good!”

Rivaille rolled his eyes and turned towards the trainees. “Don’t you have training? What the fuck do you think you are doing? Get to it before I get angry and decide to have you all do triple cleaning shifts!” he turned towards Leonhart and Yeager, who were still nearby, watching with interest. “You two, as well!” But as an afterthought, he added, “good job, though.”

“Yeah, you two are really good!” Luffy agreed, patting the boy on the back.

Blue green eyes shifted to Rivaille then to the straw hatted girl, and the Survey Corps captain could see the way they widened in surprise, obviously not expecting the praise. “Ah, thank you.”

Luffy’s grin widened. “You’ll be really cool one day, you know! Especially if you use the monster!” Then, her face morphed into a more thoughtful one. Or at least, as close to thoughtful as the girl could get. “It seems really angry, though.”

Rivaille’s eyebrows furrowed. What did that mean? He looked over to Yeager, but the boy’s face yielded no answer, as he seemed to be just as confused as the captain. The blonde, however, reacted entirely differently. Her eyes widened for a moment’s notice, pure shock taking over her features. It didn’t last longer than the fraction of a second, but it was highly suspicious, nonetheless.

“I’m sorry, what?” Yeager bit out, confusion all over his face.

But Luffy wasn’t paying attention to him anymore, turning towards Rivaille instead. Her eyes were twinkling with delight and the anticipation to fight.

Rivaille sighed, before pulling off his cravat. It seemed he couldn’t avoid this any longer. “Why do you want to fight so much, anyway?” He found himself asking.

The girl’s grin widened. “I feel like it.”

No answer, then. No surprise there.

“If I win, you are joining the Survey Corps,” he stated, directing his unblinking gaze at Luffy.

The girl seemed to consider that long and hard before saying, “I don’t know what that means, but it doesn’t matter. I’m not gonna lose.”

“And what happens if she wins?” One of the cadets-to-be asked suddenly. Rivaille looked over, only to see a girl with black her and grey eyes stare back at him with an emotionless face. She didn’t seem to regret her words, even as their eyes met.

Rivaille’s eyes hardened. “Didn’t I tell you to go back to practicing?”

The recruits jolted, quickly returning to their pairs even though they didn’t take their eyes off them.

“Hmm” Luffy said, her eyes thoughtful as she stared at him long and hard. Rivaille could feel dread pooling in his stomach, fearing the absolute ridiculous thing she would no doubt come up with. He cursed the recruit for putting the idea of wanting something in return as well in Luffy’s head.

He could always just refuse, of course, but the idea put a bad taste in his mouth. He wouldn’t just lose the respect of the recruits, but Shitty Glasses would never let him live it down.

“If I win,” Luffy said after a moment, her eyes brightening, “then you have to join me and my friends for dinner!”

Rivaille felt his eyes widen. He expected a lot of things, but not that. “For dinner?” He asked, unbelieving.

“Yeah,” she nodded seriously. “Shanks always said that those who don’t eat enough end up staying short. And since you are short, you obviously don’t eat enough.” She grinned, obviously proud of herself, before frowning the slightest bit. “But don’t touch my plate!”

Rivaille sighed.

_How did I get myself into this?_ He asked himself tiredly. _And more importantly, how do I get myself out?_

“Whatever,” he answered, readying himself for the fight. “The rules are the following: The one who is pinned down first, or yields, loses.”

Luffy smirked at him, her eyes full of confidence. “Let’s start.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading, please leave a comment. Or don't. But please do anyway.


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